Since the introduction of the Apple iPhone in June 2007, and the Apple iPad in April 2010, the number of computing devices known as smart phones and tablets has vastly increased. These devices typically consist of a touch screen that fronts a highly sophisticated, versatile, thin, and lightweight computer that among other things, serves as a point-and-shoot camera, a video camera, and a face-to-face wireless communications device. In certain embodiments, the line between a smart phone and a tablet is blurring as smart phones continue to increase in size and assume most functions of a “tablet” as they narrow in thickness. In fact, a new moniker has been established to refer to such devices; they are called “phablets”; a class of mobile wireless devices designed to combine or straddle the functions of a smartphone and a tablet. The latest incarnation of these devices is the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, with thicknesses in the neighborhood of 7.1 mm.
While such devices represent marvels of modern communication, voice recording, photography, videography, gaming and the consumption and documentation of information; they all share a major deficiency that limits their usability; the ability to be positioned to various angles and orientations with respect to a base (a resting surface) in order eliminate glare, steady a camera shot, position the video camera at an optimum angle for recording a scene, for communicating wirelessly with another person over an extended period of time without tiring one's hand, as well as for consuming information while freeing both hands to eat, or to perform other tasks concurrently.
Moreover, with the advent of the Samsung Galaxy Note tablets and phablets, the Microsoft Surface tablets, and the 12.9 inch iPad Pro—all of which support a stylus—the display may not only need to be positioned to various angles and orientations, with respect to the base, but it may also need to support the load and the pressure of a human hand pressing a stylus against the display surface of the tablet or phablet at multiple viewing and writing angles, both for ergonomic reasons and to eliminate distracting reflections or glare.
In addition, as the latest generation of smart phones have practically replaced most dedicated point and shoot cameras and have even started encroaching on digital single-lens reflex (“DSLR”) cameras, such as the new iPhone 7 Plus, they are being put to use all day long—and even the most robust smart-phone/tablet batteries of today cannot currently provide sustained energy for a 16-hour per day of continued operation without the need for recharging—which makes it imperative to devise a simple, thin, light, and robust mechanism for the smooth and quick interchanging of the batteries of the next generation of smart phones and tablets.
The multitude of offerings from several manufacturers of smart phones, tablets, and tablet accessories reveal that the great majority of current tablets, tablet stands, folios, and covers provide either fixed or limited adjustability; typically resulting in either one or two display angles (with respect to a resting surface or base).
A company that currently offers a display stand or a tablet accessory with several display angles is ZeroChroma, LLC (http://www.zerochroma.com) through their “VarioProtect” and “VarioEdge” and “Vortex” covers for the iPhone and iPad. While the ZeroChroma, LLC designs provide multiple viewing angles that can effectively eliminate glare and provide an ergonomic viewing experience, their designs are relatively complex, are prone to sliding and breaking after repeated use, add substantial weight to the device they enclose, and only provide for a single load bearing viewing angle that can support hand-writing with a stylus without potentially sliding the display during hand-writing.
An analysis of existing display stands, kick stands, and other rotation lock technologies related to electronic display panels revealed that most current rotation lock technologies do not incorporate a rotation locking mechanism at the hinge (rotation joint) but rather rely mostly on notches and grooves that are parallel to the hinge's axis to stop the rotation of a pivoting display panel, as in the case of most tablet covers and stands. Nevertheless, a few companies have recently begun to use different approaches for positioning a display tablet to various angles and orientations with respect to a base; for example, ZeroChroma uses a series of flexible springy “bumps” that are transverse to the axis of rotation of the pivoting support element or stand to fix the rotation of the stand, but this kind of approach makes the mechanism prone to sliding as the springy bumps lose plasticity after repeated use. Microsoft on the other hand appears to use a combination of cams and springs to prop the angular positioning of their Surface computers' kick stands, and Lenovo has introduced a new kickstand hinge with their new 12-inch ideapad Miix 700 that uses a watchband like hinge technology that enables their tablet computers to assume a vast amount of usage positions. However, none of these technologies provide for a load bearing rotation lock mechanism that would enable electronic display devices to support the load and the pressure of a human hand pressing a stylus against the display surface of a tablet at multiple viewing and writing angles, and none that we could find, could accommodate the smooth and quick interchanging of smart phone and tablet batteries on the go. Therefore, a need exists for a compact, thin, light, economical, and robust technology that not only can support a large number of adjustable viewing angles for a display stand, but that can also support the load and the pressure of a human hand pressing a stylus against the display surface of a tablet at multiple viewing and writing angles and that can accommodate the interchanging of smart phone and tablet batteries and on the go.